Mayor unveils tax plan (UPDATED: 12:01 p.m.)

Council, chief left out of event

STOCKTON - Unveiling a long-awaited proposal he called "the people's initiative," Mayor Anthony Silva officially released a sales-tax plan Tuesday morning that he says will "restore" Stockton by providing funding for 100 more police officers and other public-safety measures.

EDITOR’S NOTE: The original version of this story said the Stockton Police Officers Association endorsed Mayor Anthony Silva’s plan to raise taxes to hire more police officers. The SPOA clarified Wednesday morning that it endorses a tax plan to finance public safety issues but has not specifically endorsed Silva’s proposal.

“The Stockton Police Officers Association is working with Mayor Anthony Silva and other community members and organizations to ensure that any tax initiative brought before the voters will serve the Public Safety needs of the citizens of Stockton,” said the SPOA news release, issued on Tuesday.

STOCKTON - Unveiling a long-awaited proposal he called "the people's initiative," Mayor Anthony Silva officially released a sales-tax plan Tuesday morning that he says will "restore" Stockton by providing funding for 100 more police officers and other public-safety measures.

Silva was accompanied by nationally known crime-fighting guru William Bratton at a downtown news conference held before a carefully assembled audience of supporters of the initiative.

Silva said the tax's proponents are eager to receive suggestions on items that should be added or removed from the initiative. He scoffed at the suggestion by some of his fellow City Council members that the release of the half-cent tax plan was poorly timed.

City Manager Bob Deis has voiced strong concern for weeks that the tax proposal would provide ammunition to the city's creditors in their fight to block Stockton's eligibility for bankruptcy. The court case is being argued this week in Sacramento.

Some council members criticized Silva's timing in light of city plans to next week unveil another long-awaited anti-crime measure dubbed the Marshall Plan.

"My answer is there's never a bad time to talk about public safety," said Silva, adding that the tax works "hand in glove" with the Marshall Plan. "Although our city is engaged in the bankruptcy process, we must reassure our residents and give them hope that things will get better. This is a community plan that I have endorsed. This is not just my plan."

Bratton, the former police chief in New York and Los Angeles, said he will be a consultant if the tax plan ultimately is approved by two-thirds of the voters in an election late this year.

The plan creates several new positions including an advocate/administrator, paid consultant and citizens advisory committee. Bratton is already working for Silva's group as it assembles the tax plan. Bratton would not say how much he is being paid by what he called a "consortium" of business and community leaders pushing the tax.

"In your city, you are in the midst of a crisis - a crime crisis," Bratton said. "There's no getting away from it. ... Your mayor and his colleagues are proposing to once again invest in that first obligation of democracy: public safety, and very specifically, the criminal justice system."

Stockton Police Chief Eric Jones and five of Silva's six fellow members of the City Council did not attend the press conference. Four said they were never told about the news conference. Paul Canepa did not return a phone message seeking comment. Councilman Michael Tubbs said he learned of the news conference on Facebook just as it began, and he arrived shortly before the 30-minute event's conclusion.

"The council is not being made a part of any of what the mayor is doing," Councilman Elbert Holman said. "When you try to pin him down in public, he says we're just in the talking stages. Then the next day there's a press conference. I'm confused. ... If that's the way the mayor chooses to work, that's the way the mayor chooses to work."

Another council member, Kathy Miller, added, "We have been left out of the loop."

Proponents say the tax proposal would need signatures from 12,000 voters to get on the ballot. If passed, they say, it would generate $18 million a year through its expiration in 2025.

The money could only be used for the purposes spelled out in the initiative - mainly to hire the additional officers at a maximum salary of $76,000 a year plus incentives for remaining with the force and for living within the city limits, but also to augment Stockton's criminal-justice system.

A separate bureaucracy would administer the tax fund if it is approved. Bratton would serve as a paid consultant. Silva said the separate bureaucracy is needed because the public does not trust the city's government as the result of spending decisions in the past 15 years that contributed to Stockton's financial straits.

"I realize the residents of Stockton have a lot of reasons not to trust city government," Silva said in his prepared remarks. "I feel that same way and that has helped us in (developing) this plan that we are proposing."

Miller responded, "The last four years I believe the city has gone a long way in restoring trust in city government. We've had almost a complete overhaul of senior management. We've scrubbed the books."

Jones, Stockton's police chief, said he has not been included to this point in developing the tax plan but "would certainly hope to be involved" in the final tweaking.

He also expressed several concerns. He said he hopes the tax plan won't "undercut or undermine any of the work we've already done"; said he does not see a need "for any additional layers" of bureaucracy; and said he believes the tax plan will impact the general fund. He said if there are additional officers, the police force will need additional gear and more police cars.

"There's a lot of equipment that needs to be brand new for an officer," Jones said. "The plan appears to hit the general fund for costs for equipment and training."

Tax proponents say their proposal will give the police force the staffing to crack down on so-called lesser crimes. Stockton's 344 officers are fewer per capita than any other large city, Silva said.

Bratton said attacking lesser crimes played a large role in reducing more serious offenses during his time in New York and Los Angeles. Jones agreed that with 100 more officers, his force could better respond to lesser offenses.

The Stockton Police Officers Association endorsed the plan.

Silva said fighting the smaller crimes would be an indication that Stockton has "higher expectations" for its citizens.

"In my campaign for mayor, I made fighting crime my No. 1 priority," he said. "A safe community is the foundation of a vibrant community, and we are not safe."